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8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! 11 Then the devil left him,

Therefore God exalted him that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

For a few years when I was young I was poor. My family had no car and we lived in the “projects.” We didn’t have food stamps in those days, but I remember getting “surplus commodities.” Things like cheese and butter. It was helpful to have government provided shelter and food. But what our family really needed was a good job for my dad. My dad went through a period where he couldn’t get a decent job, but he never gave up. Eventually he got a job offshore as a galley hand. He worked hard and worked his way up and eventually became a clerk, a very good paying job. Years later, he was hurt on the job and the last few years of his working life, he “drew disability.”  It’s good that our government provides a “safety net” for the poor. Supplying basic food, and housing and some income for those who can’t work is a good thing. I don’t believe most folks, liberal or conservative have a problem with that. But being generous with someone else’s money isn’t a Christian virtue and isn’t what makes us a Christian nation. Mr. Carter had some good qualities. He was […]

America! America! God shed his grace on thee. Grace is God’s unmerited favor. It’s something we don’t deserve. Maybe I”m just getting old, but it seems to me America is deserving grace less and less. I know that as God’s child I benefit from His love and grace even when He isn’t particularly proud of me. When I stumble and fall He still loves me. I am still His. But there are consequences to my sin. Even when there is forgiveness, there is often harm and hurt that must be dealt with. I know that His mercy endures forever, but I also know that each step taken outside of His will draws me further away from His plan for me.  God has blessed this country for a very long time. His grace has been so abundant that we have come to expect it and, even to believe that we deserve it. We certainly don’t. It’s not like we ever deserved it. But the way we have drifted, I can’t believe He will pour out  His grace on America forever. The countries of Europe where Christianity bloomed have long ago turned away from Him and the effects of the withdrawal […]

Yesterday for lunch Rose and I walked into a restaurant with few patrons. We tend to eat lunch late so we are used to nearly empty places. Sitting near us were two young men. One of them was on the phone. It soon became clear that they were youth pastors and were talking to someone at a destination they were intending to visit with their youth group. They were discussing many aspects of the upcoming trip.  I was amazed by the detail that went into the conversation, which lasted the entire time Rose and I studied the unfamiliar menu, placed our order and ate our meal. At one point I thought how happy I would be to have one of my grand kids in the youth group led by these two. Their concern, attention to detail and sense of responsibility was obvious in the phone call. I think sometimes we don’t consider all that goes into being in full time ministry. Most of us see our Pastors and their staff on Sunday and maybe one other time during the week. I think in the back of our minds we think, “What a great job. They just work one day […]

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am, at just what a bunch of hypocrites we are. This world is really messed up. Let me give you some examples. A well-known football player for the New England Patriots is charged with murder and is alleged to have committed an execution style killing of a potential witness to a double killing that occurred last summer. His jerseys are going for over $200 on the internet. Apparently some folks think it would be cool to wear the football jersey of an alleged murderer. A sixty something year old woman who was born in Georgia and grew up in the south admits to having used the “n word” in the past. Everyone that knows her swears she is a loving and kind person who has helped many of all races. Yet her products are taken off the shelves of stores and she is the biggest news story of the summer thus far. Now folks are making special efforts to buy her products just to show support. We have to come up with more summer activities for folks. By the way, if you are really bored you can now find the actual […]

Not everyone is your friend, nor should they be. If we will learn this lesson we will avoid much pain in this life.  Don’t get me wrong. It’s great to have friends. We all need friends. But we also need a lot more. The folks you follow or who follow you on Facebook or Twitter are not your friends. Many of them don’t even know you. Many do and don’t like you and many certainly don’t have your best interests at heart. I know you might share intimate details of your life with these people. That doesn’t make them your friends. It makes you stupid. Your kids are not your friends. They don’t need a friend. They need a parent. Parent/child is a unique, special relationship. It isn’t equal. One party has more responsibility than the other. It’s a relationship which should change over the years, but it’s always much more than friendship. Your spouse is not your friend. I know we seem to think that it’s the highest compliment to say that our spouse is our “best friend.” My spouse is so much more than that. The committed relationship between a man and a woman is uniquely created […]

I hear a lot of complaints that we don’t hear much about sin anymore. If true, that’s too bad because sin is something we all have in common. I don’t want to be part of that problem, so today I would like to talk about sin. The Supreme Court, Congress, the President, gays and straights, Christians, the saved and the unsaved, the churched and the unchurched, murderers, rapists, liars, slanderers, Muslims, blacks and whites, Democrats and Republicans, conservative and liberal Christians, TV preachers, porn addicts, sex addicts, drug addicts, the cool kids at school, soccer moms, Tiger fans…. The all have some things in common: 1. They don’t determine what is sin. God does that. 2. They all sin. Only God doesn’t do that. It doesn’t help to try to “reclassify” some things as “not sin.” It doesn’t matter what we call it. Sin is sin. The good news is that God has provided a solution to sin. Those who repent, (that doesn’t mean they stop sinning. It means they turn away from it.)  recognize they are sinners and that they can’t do anything about it themselves, who turn to Christ and acknowledge that He defines sin and let […]